Wikileaks founder loses control of his memoir

"It is passionate, provocative and opinionated - like its
author," Canongate said about the book in its statement. "It
fulfils the promise of the original proposal and we are proud to
publish it."

The book, which the British newspaper the
Independent plans to begin excerpting, contains a chapter
devoted to the sex-crimes allegations in Sweden, in which Assange
repeats the much-criticised claim that he had been warned by a
source in an unnamed intelligence agency that the US government had
planned to set him up. According to the Independent, Assange admits to
sleeping with the two women -- referred to as A and W in the book
-- but asserts that their allegations that some of their sexual
encounters were not consensual are simply motivated by his failure
to return their calls or are part of a conspiracy to get him.

"The international situation had me in its grip, and although I
had spent time with these women, I wasn't paying enough attention
to them, or ringing them back, or able to step out of the zone that
came down with all these threats and statements against me in
America," Assange states in the book, according to the
Independent. "One of my mistakes was to expect them to
understand this? I wasn't a reliable boyfriend, or even a very
courteous sleeping partner, and this began to figure. Unless, of
course, the agenda had been rigged from the start."

Assange's previous claim that the CIA was behind the women's
allegations against him caused a rift between him and other members
of WikiLeaks who criticised him for making allegations he couldn't
back and for getting WikiLeaks's business and reputation entangled
in his personal affairs.

Canongate Books has reportedly printed and distributed thousands
of copies of the memoir under tight security, in order to prevent Assange from stopping
its publication.

The book will go on sale in stores and online on 22 September,
2011.

Assange will receive royalties from the book he now claims he
doesn't want published, after the advance is paid back in sales,
according to Canongate spokeswoman Sich.

It's not the first time that Assange has lost control over the
publication of material. Last month, he lost
control of a WikiLeaks database containing more than
250,000 U.S. State Department cables after a German newspaper
reported that supporters of the organisation had inadvertently
published a full copy of the database online. Although the file was
password protected, the password had been revealed in a book that
the Guardian newspaper had published about
WikiLeaks, making it possible for anyone to grab the file and
unlock the unredacted cables.